Climate Change
by Noofle
Summary: S1 Ep7. Sam is taken on his first TARDIS trip, but all does not go to plan. Vey soon, the TARDIS team is dealing with an intergalactic conspiracy to change the weather of a primitive plant. Can they stop the global warming?
1. The Ice Planet

**A/N: Hello, once again! Sorry about the long wait - busy busy busy. But now assessment is over, and I can relax (hurrah!) and upload some stuff. Dedicated to all those readers (you know who you are!) that continue to read and review, despite my unpredictable schedule.**

**Disclaimer: I claim no responsibility for Doctor Who, but I'm afraid everything else is kinda my fault.**

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**SERIES ONE: EPISODE SEVEN**

**CLIMATE CHANGE**

**CHAPTER ONE: THE ICE PLANET**

Sam held onto the console for dear life as the TARDIS tumbled haphazardly towards its destination. The Doctor himself had one arm wrapped around the central column, his other limbs splayed out in a desperate attempt to right his time ship. Brittany stumbled into the room as sparks sprayed from the ceiling, showering everyone in a glimmering rain of electricity. The more experienced companion leapt for one of the golden pillars that supported the room, clinging on tightly as the world tilted crazily.

"Sorry," the Doctor called, whacking the console with his mallet in an apparently random fashion. "The geokinetic stabiliser is playing up."

"I thought you fixed that last week!" Brittany shot back, making a grab for her escaping rucksack, but in doing so releasing her hold on the pillar. She slid across the floor; bag in hand, until she bumped against the railing surrounding the raised console area.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, and gave the console one last almighty thwack. The TARDIS flight noises cut out with a loud clunk, and both Brittany and he released their holds, though Sam remained just as tense as before.

"We've landed?" he asked tentatively, slowly relaxing his death-grip on the console.

The Doctor hooked the scanner with one of his hands as he slid backwards of the controls to place both his feet firmly on the floor. "Yes," he confirmed, peering at the spinning symbols neither human could make sense of. "The planet Arktaurus, in the Yttrian galaxy. Might want to find your thermal underwear Sam, 'cos it's midwinter on the ice planet."

The Doctor's latest companion looked over at the blue doors that seemed so out of place amid the glowing coral of the alien time ship. "You mean there's another planet just outside those doors?" he asked, excited and in complete denial at the same time. "An actual real alien planet? With actual real aliens and stuff?"

The Doctor bounced down to the door, scooping up his ever-present coat along the way. "I'm not sure about the 'stuff', but there's certainly aliens. They do the nicest spiced tea." A grin spread across his face as he placed his hand on the door. "You have not had tea until you've had Arkan spiced tea. Oh, it is like heaven, melted into a cup!"

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Brittany insisted, slinging her pack over her shoulders. "Surely you want to let Sam see the wonders of an alien world for himself."

The Time Lord pulled at his earlobe self-consciously as he said, "Oh, of course, yeah. That's right." He glanced at the New Zealander. "Well, go on."

"What, outside?"

"Yes outside! Where else?"

Sam swallowed and turned to the blue doors, hands closing around the handle, he slowly drew the door inwards and stuck his head out through the crack. He was about to comment on the strangeness of this so called ice planet when someone, probably the Doctor, got fed up with his caution and roughly shoved his outside. Sam stumbled forward, arms wheeling as he strove to maintain his balance, but he soon found himself on the ground, receiving a mouthful of sand for his troubles.

The Doctor stepped over the prone New Zealander, shielding his eyes against the stinging airborne dust.

"I don't know about you Doctor," Brittany said, helping Sam to his feet, "but this doesn't really seem like an ice planet to me. For one, there's no ice."

"This is definitely Arktaurus though," the alien replied, flipping up the collar of his coat to ward off the gritty sand the wind was throwing around. "I double-checked the coordinates. We are in the right place." He turned to give Sam an apologetic smile. "Sorry about pushing you, but as soon as I saw the sand, I knew something was wrong."

Sam dusted himself off with a shrug. "It's okay, don't worry about it."

Brittany scowled at the Doctor. "So what's wrong?" she shouted over the howling wind. To Sam, she added in a low voice, "You gotta stand up for yourself." Sam just gave another shrug.

The Doctor scooped up a handful of orange sand, sniffed it, and promptly sneezed. "Well it is real sand," he observed, wrinkling his nose in distaste.

"What else would it be?" Brittany pointed out.

The Time Lord let the sand trickle through his fingers. "Well, any number of things, really. Dirt, alien micro-organisms. Or decayed civilisation." A slight smile passed over his face. "Man, that was a bus trip and a half. Remind me to tell you later. Let's find out where we are." And, without another word, he disappeared into the sandstorm.

"Doctor!" Brittany yelled, running after his already fading footsteps. "Don't leave us here!" Sam hesitated, but as soon as Brittany was swallowed by the howling storm, he charged after her. He would have run straight into her, if he hadn't caught the sound of her voice and skidded to an immediate halt.

"What are you thinking in that alien head of yours?" Brittany shouted over the storm. "You're not invincible you know. If you get lost out here …" She left the rest of the sentence unspoken. "So you even know where the nearest settlement is?"

"Yes," the Doctor replied forcefully. "It's that way! Oh, no wait… is it that way? Or that way?" He paused, trying to get his bearings. "Ah."

Brittany bit her lip. "Well, let's get back to the TARDIS then. We can wait out the storm there."

"Which way is the TARDIS?" the Doctor asked, spinning around on the spot as he peered into the orange haze.

"I think it's that way," Sam offered, pointing back the way he thought he'd come from. "But I'm not sure."

"As good a choice as any," the Doctor decided with a grin, clapping the young man on the shoulder. "Come on, Sam me boy."

They wandered about for ten minutes, but there was no sign of any kind of box, police or otherwise. Now it just seemed like the Doctor was leading them in circles, in an altogether unsuccessful attempt to find his spaceship. Brittany, having been fully kitted out for a cold planet, had instead wrapped her scarf over her mouth and nose to keep off the sand. Sam had the hood of his jacket up, but it didn't seem to be making much difference. The Doctor had to make do with trying to pull his coat up over his head.

"Admit it Doctor, we're lost," Brittany said at last, voice muffled by both her scarf and the howling of the storm.

"Did you hear that?" the Doctor asked, completely ignoring her.

"I can't hear anything but the wind," Sam groaned, but his contribution was ignored.

The Doctor paused, and held up his hand for silence. "There it was again! Can't you hear it?"

"Hear what?" Brittany demanded, but Sam froze. The Doctor was right, there was a sound out of place. A howling that blended almost seamlessly with the wind. Almost, but not quite. It was a noise somewhat akin to the baying of wolves, but whatever was making the noise was not from Earth.

The howls grew in volume, a chorus echoing from every direction. Then, a ring of shadowy figures appeared in the haze, hemming them in.


	2. That's All Folks

_Four months, twenty-three days earlier…_

Was there anybody on this mudball of a planet that could help him? No UNIT branch, no secret Torchwood base – heck, even the criminal lowlife steered clear of Sydoriv. And yet here he was on this backwards tropical planet, chasing down a rogue alien. Well, a rogue _being_ to be more precise. A voidic shade.

The Doctor sighed, and brought the TARDIS to a halt on a relatively nondescript street corner. Those voidic creatures were nasty alright, and very hard to get rid of once they've had a taste of this dimension. Why, he remembered a time when ….

Digressing probably wasn't a good idea. Not when a creature from the void was on the loose in an unsuspecting human city. So, resources – what did he have? One magnificent time ship, one galaxy-spanning intellect with an ego to match, legs good for running and a fair bit of knowledge when it came to the void. Not a bad list, as lists go. The one thing he needed was a bit of local knowledge, someone with Sydoriv street smarts. But who? It wasn't like he knew anyone here…

But he _had _visited before, hadn't he? With Captian Jack? Yes, yes, Crusader Caves, and those Shadows that had hitched a lift from Midnight. Ah, that's right. What was the name of that lady who had helped him out – the one obsessed with fire … Brooke? No, Brittany. Yeah, that was it – Brittany Harvey. She was sure to know the lay of the land around these parts, so to speak.

He was halfway through instructing the TARDIS to look up her number when he paused, considering his last meeting with her. She had refused an offer to travel with him – she hadn't wanted the danger. She probably wouldn't be pleased to see him again, considering how he had almost killed the both of them. Indirectly of course – his presence had awakened the Shadows, starting a hunt that took far too many lives.

Again, tangents… Really, he should probably get that checked out. A wandering mind could be a health hazard – if he got distracted and a Cyberman jumped from a side alley… well, things could get very bad very quickly. Okay, shut up now, no more tangents.

"Let's find this shade, hmm?" he said out loud, deciding that it would be for the best if he left Brittany out of this. No need to risk her life again. "Come on old girl, show me what you've got."

The TARDIS rumbled quietly, like a volcano threatening to destroy the surrounding countryside in cataclysmic explosion of geological fury; a volcano that had decided that the villagers could live another day.

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And thus, the Doctor never met Brittany for the second time. The Doctor defeated the voidic shade by himself and adventured off into time and space, lonely and companionless. Therefore, all future adventures of theirs could no longer be, so Noofle has decided that she should stop writing their continued adventures of daring and mystery, lest she causes a paradox that blows a hole in the space-time continuum the approximate size and shape of Northern Ireland. It would be rather nasty if the entirety of creation was ripped out of existence through a hole the size of Northern Ireland. And a bit embarrassing, too. Especially for me, having caused the paradox in the first place.

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**A/N: And that, as they say, is that. Sorry folks - I just don't think I'll be able to put enough effort in with the amount of scholwork I have to do this year. Success at school ranks above writing fanfiction. Maybe I might come back to this stuff, but don't hold your breath. I just couldn't finish without giving you a kinda 'farewell' chapter - I'll still be hanging around reviewing stories, but no more writing for Noofle.**


	3. Welcoming

**Disclaimer: I doth not own Doctor Who. And neither do you, so don't even bother to claim otherwise. *glares***

**A/N: APRIL FOOLS! for the last chapter. Sorry, has been a while, so, without further ado, here be the next chapter of Climate Change!**

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**CHAPTER TWO: WELCOMING**

The shadowy humanoids stepped out of the dust, and the Doctor visibly relaxed. "Oh, I am so glad to see you," he said in relief, his words barely carrying over the wind.

There were six people around them, all wearing some kind of light fabric done in dull browns and yellows, matching the colour of the sand. It was impossible to make out any facial features of the beings other than their eyes, due to the protective cloth around their heads.

The lead figure looked at them with piercing green eyes. "What are you doing out here? It's too dangerous to be taking a walk during a storm like this. You're lucky we found you when we did."

"Oh? And why is that?" the Doctor asked.

"We're the last patrol in this area, and we're heading back to town. If we hadn't found you now, no one ever would have." The figure shifted its weight, and looked off into the distance. "I think you had better come with us." The humanoid motioned for the time travellers to follow as the patrol set off.

"Who are they?" Sam queried, completely awestruck by everything.

"Arkans, the natives of this planet," the Doctor explained, folding his arms across his chest in an attempt to keep the dust out of his clothing. "But they do seem to be acting a bit out of character. Arkans are made for snow, so what are they doing wandering about in a desert?"

"Since when do you find deserts on ice planets?" Brittany pointed out in an infuriatingly annoying voice. "Get a bit of perspective." As she and the Doctor descended into another argument, Sam decided to stare off into the distance. He didn't want to miss a single moment of his first visit to another world.

He was on an alien planet! Even thought there seemed to be some kind of problem, it was still an alien planet. With aliens! Here he was, Sam Taylor, citizen of the Earth, standing on a planet in a galaxy that wasn't his own. How many people could say they'd done that?

Sam was still staring out into the haze of the sandstorm when he made out a shadowy shape that definitely wasn't an Arkan. For one, it had six legs, a long tail and a snout like that of a crocodile. He poked the Doctor in that arm. "Did you see that?" he asked, pointing towards the … thing. "There was some kind of creature!"

The Time Lord peered into the haze. "It was just an Ayapi hound," he decided. "Kind of like a dog, but bigger. And with sharper teeth." The Doctor grinned, as if he relished the thought. "Don't worry, they're completely tame. Well, mostly."

While this was not the most reassuring thing Sam had heard, he did relax slightly. Slavering alien wolves were one thing; mostly tame alien dogs another.

Their guide looked back at them, and pointed ahead into what looked like seemingly more sand. "Pangduk," was all he said.

Brittany and Sam looked at each other with confusion, but the Doctor was now bouncing from foot to foot. When they asked him what the word meant, he would only say, "Just wait and see!"

And then suddenly it was no longer just loose sand beneath their feet, but stone; the paved surface of a road worn smooth by generations of feet. Dark, hulking shadows appeared from out of the gloom, stone buildings gritty with the invasive sand. What Sam wanted right now was a very thorough bath and some nice clean sand-free clothes.

"Welcome to Pangduk, my friends," the Doctor intoned, gesturing around at nothing much at all. "The largest Arkan settlement for one hundred miles, or somewhere thereabouts."

"It's a town," Brittany murmured through her scarf, the howling wind tearing the words away.

The Doctor tapped their tour guide on the shoulder. "We need to see the chieftain," he shouted over the wind, but the Arkan shook his head.

"Not possible," the alien shot back. "The chieftain is currently busy handling the crisis. I can provide you with accommodation, or a place to wait until the chief will see you."

"But we need to see him now!" the Doctor insisted, and Sam could see this was going to quickly end up being an argument. Seemed like a bad habit with this guy.

"Somewhere to stay would be lovely, thanks," he said, stepping between the two aliens. "If you could just show us the way?"

The Arkan inclined his head, and gestured for them to follow once again, as the rest of the patrol dispersed. Sam, happy that he had averted what might have become a disaster, settled for staring around at the buildings in wonder. He still couldn't believe it. An alien world! Meeting the Doctor had to be the both the best and worst thing that had ever happened to him. He got to meet aliens, but those aliens seemed to want to kill him. Still, he wouldn't give it up for the world.

The Doctor however, appeared to be sulking. There were hundreds of theories whirling around his head as to why there was a desert on Arktaurus, but he would be no closer to working out which one was correct until he spoke to the chieftain. They were definitely on the right planet at the right time. Ever since he'd accidentally landed the TARDIS on Messaline instead of New Earth, the Doctor made a habit of checking the coordinates before anyone stepped outside. No, his navigating skills had been perfect this time, despite the bumpy landing. It was the planet that was wrong, and he wasn't going to rest until he reached the bottom of this mess.

He returned to the real world when Brittany poked him in the ribs. "Come on mister big important Time Lord," she said, half tugging towards a building. "Surely you want to get out of this storm?"

"Wha…? Oh, yeah," he mumbled, allowing himself to be dragged inside.

_What was going on here?_


	4. Faithless

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who. But series 5 is made of WIN, amiright?**

**A/N: Sorry, have been busy. And then all you get is this filler chapter that I'm not that pleased with. Meh, I like the next chapter better. Cos it's longer, and better. HAH.**

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**CHAPTER THREE: FAITHLESS**

To pass the time, the Doctor had dug a pack of cards out from the depths of his pockets, and before long the three time travellers were deeply engrossed in a game of blackjack. Brittany had resigned herself to the fact that the Doctor would win, as per usual, but surprisingly Sam was beating them all by a large margin.

There was a knock at the door, and the Doctor took it as an opportunity to excuse himself from the game. He opened the door, letting in both a cloud of sand and a young Arkan.

"Hello there," the Doctor said in way of greeting, dragging the door shut with great difficulty. "What can we do for you?"

The Arkan, who was a full head shorter than the Time Lord, bobbed nervously as he unwrapped his head covering. Sam immediately looked up from the game. He wasn't going to miss seeing his second alien for some silly card game. Well, technically it was his third alien if he included the Doctor, but he wasn't sure whether he counted or not. He looked human after all! The being in front of him was definitely not human. For starters, he appeared to be covered from head to foot in fur – well his head and his feet were the only bits of the Arkan that weren't covered in clothing, and they in turn were covered in a coarse brown-striped fur. The Arkan had pointed ears like a cat's, and paws for feet, but that was where the resemblance ended. The hands had four fingers and an opposable thumb, and the face was humanoid, with clear blue eyes.

"Uh, hello," the alien said, "I … ummm…"

"Don't worry, we don't mind," the Doctor said reassuringly as he returned to his seat and proceeded to shuffle his deck of cards.

The alien finally seemed to find his voice. "Excuse me, but don't mind what?"

"Well, you gawking at us, obviously." The Doctor delivered that sentence with a grin that showed he thought the whole situation was rather amusing. He gestured towards a spare seat. "Please, sit down. There's always room for another player."

"Oh, right," the Arkan said as he carefully sat down. "I, um, just had to come see."

"See what?" the Doctor asked as he handed cards out to all the players.

"To see if the stories were true."

Brittany grinned as she received her second card, an expression that boded ill for all the other players, considering she had no poker face whatsoever. "And what would those stories be?" she asked, while sending victorious looks in Sam's direction.

The Arkan twiddled his thumbs anxiously. "Well, the stories that a patrol had discovered some people, with, well, no fur."

The Doctor smirked at that outlandish idea, and picked up his cards. A Queen and a seven. That made seventeen – not a winning hand, that's for sure. He shrugged, and picked another card. The three of diamonds. That made twenty, correct? He offered the deck to Sam.

"Are we what you expected?" the Time Lord asked, setting his cards face-down in front of him. "Actually, what were you expecting? Not ten-foot-tall ravenous monsters, I hope, 'cos I'm gonna have to disappoint you there. Though, of course, some of my best friends are ten-foot-tall ravenous monsters. Well, not _best_ friends, but we're … acquainted." He sniffed in that way he does when realising that he'd gone too far with that last thought, and looked inquiringly at the Arkan.

If the other alien thought any of that funny, he didn't make any outward signs that he did. "No sir. I didn't know what I was expecting sir."

The Doctor offered the deck to Brittany after Sam had acquired two new cards, but she shook her head. "Oh, it's not sir. Just Doctor. And this Sam, and Brittany." The Time Lord grinned, and offered the deck to the Arkan. "Might I ask what your name is, _pahmi_?"

The Arkan stared at the deck, unsure of what to do with it. "It's Pesh; Pesh Ayanz. And I'm not a _pahmi_ anymore – I've lived through nineteen summers!" The Doctor opened his mouth, possibly to apologise – though you could never be sure with him – but Pesh wasn't finished. "Uh, and what do I do with that?" the alien asked, pointing at the deck of cards.

As the Doctor launched into an in-depth explanation of the rules of blackjack, Sam peered intently at his cards. Two sixes, a three and a five. It was an excellent hand, almost sure to win him the round despite the clear message Brittany was sending. After examining what appeared to be some kind of acid burn on his six of spades, Sam looked up to see the Arkan cautiously removing two cards from the deck.

The Doctor dropped his battered card deck in the middle of the table, and smugly revealed his cards. Sam glowered after he added them up, and revealed his own hand with a scowl. The victorious look fell off Brittany's face as she exposed her hand – two jacks, adding to twenty. All three players turned to Pesh, watching as the alien flipped over all four of his cards.

"I'm not sure I did it right," Pesh said as Sam slumped down into his seat.

"Twenty-one," the Doctor laughed, clapping heartily. "That's brilliant!" He gathered all the cards up and proceeded to shuffle the deck as ostentatiously as possible. Sam raised an eyebrow as the Doctor flicked all the cards from one hand to the other.

"Just a few tricks I picked up in the Vegas Galaxies," the Time Lord explained as he halved the deck.

"Right, Sam murmured, stretching out the vowel.

Brittany however, was used to the Doctor showing off, and payed it the amount of attention it deserved – i.e. zilch. Instead, she looked over at Pesh. "You don't mind if I ask you a question, do you?"

"No, go ahead," the Arkan said.

"As I understand it, Arktaurus is an ice world," Brittany pointed out, "so where's all the ice?"

"It happened about a month ago. Things were fine one day, but when we woke up the next, everything had changed," Pesh explained. "Sand everywhere. The rest of Pangduk think it's because we've angered the gods or something."

"But you don't?" the Doctor put in, completely forgetting his deck-shuffling antics.

Pesh shook his heads. "The gods have never taken an interest in us before, so why now? And why something of this magnitude? No, I think it has something to do with that new star."

"A new star?" The Doctor frowned. "A star responsible for climate change?"

"Yes," Pesh said with another nod. "A green star."

"A star that probably isn't a star at all," the Doctor muttered. 'Whenever I try to go somewhere nice, something like this always happens."

Their conversation was cut short as the door opened, allowing a tall Arkan to stick his head inside, possibly the same one that had rescued them from the sandstorm.

"The chieftain will see you now."


	5. The Chief Meeting

**A/N: Hai. Well, just wanna letcha know that ima going on holiday to Thailand for two weeks. Going tomorrow, in fact. So yeah. Won't be another chapter for a while. Of course, you're probably used to that by now, so... yeah. I'll check on the reviews when I get back, and tell you how my trip was, yeah? Coooooool.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own... durrr. Umm, what? *sneezes***

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**CHAPTER FOUR: THE CHIEF MEETING**

"Amazing," Sam murmured, "absolutely bloody amazing."

The sandstorm had died off while they had been playing cards, leaving a yellow-orange sun shining down on the town of Pangduk. The settlement had been built in a valley along the banks of a small river. Stubby wharves jutted out from the banks, providing mooring for numerous small, manoeuvrable canoes. Low, dome-shaped buildings lined the shore, built from some kind of grey stone. Sam could see how the valley was an ideal location; high walls protected the settlement from the worst of the sandstorm, and he didn't doubt the valley was equally good protection from blizzards. Despite the relatively sheltered location of Pangduk, there was still sand everywhere. It floated on the surface of the river, lay in huge dunes against the buildings and stuck to clothing, leaving it feeling gritty and horrible. Sam felt like he'd never be clean again.

Their guide led them across a low bridge that spanned the watercourse, taking them directly to the largest building in Pangduk. He motioned them inside, but didn't enter himself. The Doctor led the way, ducking through the low slung doorway without hesitation. Brittany entered next, followed by Sam who, as soon as he stepped over the threshold, gawked at the interior of the hut. Tapestries decked the walls, depicting famous historical events of the planet, broken up with displays of alien weaponry and trophy skulls. Sam found his eyes drawn to a particularly cruel looking metal blade that was all curving edges and prongs.

"Admiring my collection?"

Sam turned at the voice, a guilty look written all over his face. The speaker was an Arkan, who had grey hairs sprinkled throughout his predominantly orange fur. Despite his apparent age (though, of course it was hard to tell with aliens), this Arkan seemed to be made up almost entirely of muscle, and his flashing green eyes were as youthful as any. He was kneeling behind a rough wooden table covered in all manner of alien paraphernalia, the Doctor and Brittany already seated before him.

"Umm, yeah. Sorry to keep you waiting." Sam rushed to seat himself on the provided cushions.

The Arkan smiled. "It does not matter." He looked at his collection of artefacts and trophies. "It is not all mine. Every chieftain of Pangduk has contributed to this room. I fear I have not added much." His eyes snapped back to the Doctor. "It has been many summers since furless ones have come to our village. What is it you want?"

The Doctor grinned. "Brittany? Sam? Might I introduce Barkul, the twenty-third chieftain of Pangduk."

The Arkan inclined his head. "That is indeed who I am smoothskin, but you have not yet answered my question."

The Doctor's expression hardened and he was suddenly all business. "I couldn't help but notice that you have a serious problem with your weather. The lack of snow, and abundance of sand in fact. And idea why?"

"I'm afraid I am unable to answer your question," Barkul said, "but I do know someone who may be able to shed some light on our problem." He glanced over his shoulder at a doorway filled with a scintillating beaded curtain. "Ahnri!" The curtain moved aside as a slender Arkan stepped through, a female by the looks of things. Her shawl-like clothing was wrapped around her in such a way that her hips and shoulders were covered, but her furred midriff was revealed. She had pure white fur and yellow eyes that immediately strayed to the Doctor, taking in his outlandish dress and posture right down to the very last detail. The Doctor stared right back, eyebrows furrowed. _Something wasn't right about her..._

"May I introduce to you Yuri, my trusted advisor on spiritual matters," Barkul announced, turning back towards his guests. "She will be able to help more than me."

The Doctor shuffled around to face her, his eyebrows still quizzical, but he forced a jovial tone into his voice. "Hello, I'm –"

"It is you," she breathed, anger flashing in her yellow eyes. "The man of medicine, the wanderer, the homeless, the storm that leaves only destruction in its wake."

The Time Lord locked gazes with her, his eyes turning cold and hard. Sam had to consciously stop himself from moving away. Never had he seen such sorrow and anger mixed together in one expression, let alone one man. "I'm afraid I haven't seen you before," the Doctor growled, his voice containing an unvoiced warning: _leave this place. Leave now. You are not welcome here_.

Yuri stepped forward, extending a finger out to point, accusatory. "My grandmother was but a cub when you last visited, at a time of fire and death. You brought a dark curse to our land, man of medicine, unleashing a terrible demon on Pangduk. Is it coincidence that you return and our gods forsake us?"

The Doctor rose to his feet, matching the Arkan for height. "Are you accusing me of causing this? You think the desert is my fault?" he snarled, his lips curling back in anger. Brittany and Barkul both rose to their feet, stepping towards the confrontation. Sam's attention however, was elsewhere. He often prided himself on noticing the small details, and there was one thing here no one else seemed to have seen yet.

Yuri wasn't pointing at the Doctor; no, her finger was aimed over his shoulder. Sam slowly stood, and looked towards what she was indicating. He quickly identified it as a mouldering tapestry that looked at least a hundred years old, if the faded colours were anything to go by. The shapes seemed familiar, and it wasn't until he was right in close that he realised what they were. The tapestry itself was about six feet tall with a flat painted line about a foot from the bottom. It obviously represented the ground, as it was painted white on the left side, as if snow, but black and charred on the right side of the canvas.

Sam looked closer. On the left side of the tapestry stood a blue box, a simple depiction of the very TARDIS he was just getting used to. A figure that could only be the Doctor was standing in front of his beloved time ship. The artist had gotten every detail perfect, down to the flapping coat and the crazy spiked hair. The thing he was pointing his hand at stood on the right side of the tapestry, towering all the way up to very top of the artwork. It resembled a demon of classic Earth mythology, with black skin, curved horns and fire burning from its eyes. The creature had been depicted roaring, twisting away from the Time Lord in agony. A blue light was coming from the Doctor's hand, a beam of some sort that was striking the demon squarely in the chest.

"Stop this nonsense!"

Sam turned back to see that the argument had carries on without him. The Doctor was standing with his nose almost touching Yuri's face, his anger matched only by her ferocity. Brittany had a restraining hand on the Time Lord's shoulder, but it was Barkul who had spoken.

"Yuri," the chieftain spat, "I am disgusted by your behaviour! These furless visitors are guests in our town, and under my protection. You will not speak ill of them again, unless you can produce solid proof of their transgressions." The Arkan priestess stiffly bowed her head and withdrew from the room, her eyes not leaving the Doctor.

After she had left, Barkul turned to the Time Lord. "And you, man of medicine, you had better watch your step. Keep acting like this and you will no longer be welcome in Pangduk." The chieftain strode to the nearest wall, and dragged aside a curtain to look outside. "Night has fallen. You had best return to your lodgings."

"One thing first," the Doctor murmured to himself as he stuck a hand into his pocket.

Barkul narrowed his eyes and turned away from the window. "And what would that be?"

"I wanna have a look at that green star!" the Doctor exclaimed suddenly, flourishing his screwdriver as he charged out of the building with absolutely no warning. Brittany, being used to this sort of thing, rolled her eyes and followed almost instantaneously. Barkul glanced over at Sam for clarification, but the human just shrugged in complete confusion. The chieftain shook his head in disbelief and walked outside.

Sam looked back at the tapestry, running his fingers over the caricature of the Doctor and his time machine. The alien had written himself into the history of Arktaurus, and it looked like there was no preventing him from doing it again.

That man just couldn't leave well enough alone, could he?


	6. The Emerald Star

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who. At least, I didn't last time I checked. *runs off to check again***

**A/N: Yay. Nue Chapter. Oh *is back from Thailand* too.**

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**CHAPTER FIVE: THE EMERALD STAR**

"Anything?"

"Not exactly, no."

Brittany sighed, and went back to swinging her legs. The Doctor, after running out of Barkul's hut without warning, had immediately made for the centre of town. It was something about not wanting any buildings to interfere with the signal he was trying to receive. Note key word: trying. The plan sort of fell flat on its face at that point, because the Doctor wasn't receiving a signal of any kind from the star. He was just standing in the middle of a wooden bridge holding his sonic with both hands next to his ear, listening intently for any undulation in the sonic's buzzing.

Brittany, who happened to be sitting on the bridge's railing, stared at him totally bored. "How about now? Got anything?"

The Doctor just sighed, and kept scanning the same part of the sky. The green star looked like exactly that. The only problem was that it was far brighter than any other star in the heavens, and it was sitting at the exact apex of the celestial globe. That, and the fact that it was bright green. There was no such thing as a green star. Not a single sun in the whole of Mutter's Spiral was green, though of course, they weren't in the Milky Way Galaxy. Still, he'd never seen nor heard of a green star in the Yttrian Galaxy, and there certainly hadn't been one last time he'd visited Arktaurus.

Barkul approached the bridge, Sam Taylor in hot pursuit. "You found anything yet?" the latter called out as they stepped onto the bridge. "Is it an alien spacecraft intent on bombarding the surface of the planet or something?" Brittany shot the New Zealander a sharp look, but he just grinned goofily at her.

"Nothing," the Doctor said. "I'm getting nothing."

"Then I suppose the star is nothing to worry about then," Brittany decided, looking wistfully towards their current lodging. "We can pack it in for the night and solve the problem in the morning."

The Doctor rubbed his hand across his forehead in frustration. "No, no, no, you don't understand. I'm getting nothing!"

Sam nodded. "We know."

"Absolutely nothing at all."

"Yeah," Brittany replied. "You said."

"Noooooo." The Doctor lamented for the state of his companions. "You're not getting it. Ab-so-lute-ly No-thing," he insisted, emphasising each separate syllable. "Here, listen." He pointed his sonic directly at the green star. "Hear that noise?" He moved the screwdriver so it was pointing at a different section of the sky. "Now listen again." The buzz of the device was slightly different; a slight undertone as it picked up some kind of signal.

"What is that?" Barkul asked in wonder. "Some kind of magic metal?"

"It's just a screwdriver," the Doctor replied, waving his favourite toy around. "But don't you see what this means? Normally when I point my sonic at the sky, I get all sorts of readings; radiation, passing starships, atmospheric interference and the like. I point it at the star, and I get nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. Just nothing. At all." He gave everyone one of his trademark 'have-you-worked-it-out-yet?' looks, and when no one responded, he finished off his theory.

"This means that something's up there that doesn't want to be found, and whatever it is, the technology is advanced enough to completely block my sonic without interfering with the device itself. Not often I encounter something that can do that."

Barkul stared at him, an intelligence in his eyes that hadn't been there before. "Who are you, furless one? Why have you come here?"

"I'm the Doctor, and I think the rest is rather obvious." He lowered his sonic, but in doing so, accidentally brushed the button. The device bleeped loudly and he glanced at it, brow furrowed. "Hello, what's that?" he muttered to himself, scanning the screwdriver around. The buzz changed to a loud annoying bleep when he pointed it upriver, much to the chagrin of Brittany. He pocketed the sonic and grinned. "Now that's some serious alien tech I just picked up. Fancy taking a look?"

"No."

The Doctor paused mid-step, mouth hanging open. "I'm sorry?"

"No Doctor," Brittany repeated, folding her arms. "It's the middle of the night, I'm tired, and I as sure as hell don't want to get lost out there for hours on end in the dark."

"But, I..." The Doctor faltered, and tried to put on his cutest most insistent look that was sure to win over any woman. Brittany _glared_.

"She is right, Doctor," Barkul put in diplomatically. "We can just as easily go in the morning."

The Time Lord's shoulders visibly sagged. "Yeah, I suppose... hang on, we?"

"If you have found something that can put things back how they were, I wish to know about it. I am coming with you."

The Doctor threw his hands up in dismay. "Fine, you can come. Whatever. How about you invite the rest of Pangduk while you're at it." He sniffed and strode off before anyone could get a word in edgewise, but instead of heading upriver towards their lodgings, he stalked off downriver, head bowed and hands deep in the pockets of his coat.

"Have I offended him?"

Brittany patted Barkul on the arm. "Nah, he's just used to getting his own way, that's all. He just needs some time to himself. Needs to properly think things over. Sam?"

The human in question looked up from his feet. "Yeah?"

"We're going to bed. Come on." She led the way back to their hut, leaving Sam to follow.

The New Zealander waved at Barkul. "See you in the morning then."

The Arkan nodded. "Indeed, Sam smoothskin."


	7. A Tropical Desert

**A/N: I have no excuses. Don't judge me.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, no matter how much I may desire to. **

* * *

**CHAPTER SIX: A TROPICAL DESERT**

The Doctor was sulking.

He was beginning to like Barkul less and less as time wore on. First the chieftain had insisted on inviting himself along on the Time Lord's little excursion and now, just as dawn was breaking, he had gone and invited a whole squadron of highly trained Arkan warriors. He had turned this into a military venture, and that was something the Doctor had certainly not intended.

He glared at the ten soldiers for a moment, before turning to his two companions. "You sure you don't want to come?"

"We'll be okay Doc," Brittany said. "Besides..."

"...It's you we're worried about," Sam finished. "Don't do anything rash."

The Doctor laughed heartily. "Me? Rash? You must be out of your mind." The grin fell off his face, as his thoughts turned to a particular priestess that was really beginning to irk him. "Don't get caught, okay? It looks like Yuri's coming with me, but who knows what kind of people are keeping an eye on you." He winked at them, before waving at Barkul to move the squad out.

Sam turned to Brittany, completely lost. "What was that whole, 'don't get caught' thing?"

"It's special Doctor speak for 'go snoop around Yuri's hut and see what you can find'," she replied, taking the wet-behind-the-ears companion by the arm. "Come on, I'll show you how it's done."

* * *

Sometimes the Doctor considered getting better shoes for tracking through endless wastes on alien planets, but only sometimes, and generally only for a second. Now was one of those times that Converse sneakers were proven not to be the best choice of desert footwear. Sand scrunched between his toes as his feet sunk into the surface of a sand dune. He just sighed to himself and trudged up to the top of the dune. Barkul appeared next to him, spear employed as a walking stick.

The Doctor shielded his eyes from the harsh sun, and scanned the almost featureless horizon. He and his little band of warriors were following Pangduk's river upstream, and were a mere ten minutes out of town. There wasn't much in the way of scenery, other than a few plants that had sprouted along the banks of the river, the valley they'd just left and an old shield volcano just west of town. A flat, featureless, boring desert lay upstream, providing no clue as to where that strange alien signal was emanating from ... no, hang on, what was that?

Pointing out his discovery to Barkul, the Doctor said, "See, just there, next to that dune? A building?"

"Yes Doctor, I see it. Is that our destination?"

The Doctor nodded, confident in his finding. "I do believe so, yes. Looks to be another fifteen minutes of walking. I – what is that?" His finger shot out again, but this time he was pointing towards the sky. A green pillar of light speared down out of the blue expanse, slamming into the ground on top of the building the Time Lord believed the signal to be emanating from. The beam itself disappeared almost instantly, but it left the ground rumbling beneath their feet. A second flash of light exploded out from the building; a wave of green rippling over the ground in all directions.

"Everybody, get down!" the Doctor had time to shout before it hit them.

The Doctor was blasted backwards off his feet and sent spinning through the air. He landed roughly in a copse of ferns, sticks and leaves tearing at his clothing. "Owah-ger-hwahhg," he groaned unintelligibly as he sat up, rubbing groggily at his head. The wave hadn't been just green light, oh no – it had quite literally been made up of pure greenery. Where before there had been vast dunes of desert, now there was luscious rainforest; hot, humid and full of pungent aromas.

The Doctor remained seated atop the green-purple fern he'd landed on, senses alert. Though he could no longer see the river, its tinkling water was audible through the trees. Insects chirped from their hiding spots, but they were insects that had only existed for a few bare seconds. That had to be some pretty fearsome technology, if it could not only change the climate, but create life itself. A couple of Arkans groaned from somewhere off to his right, and the Doctor rose to his feet stiffly, shrugging his overcoat off his shoulders.

"Everyone alright?" he called as he slung his coat over his arm. "No one injured? Is Yuri still alive?"

There was a low hiss from wherever the female Arkan was. "I am indeed Doctor," she growled, emerging from a stand of fan-leaved bushes, completely unscathed.

He shrugged as the rest of the Arkans reformed ranks. "Ah well, you can't have everything you want, can you?" he chuckled as Barkul dropped out of a tree a couple of feet from where he was standing with a loud crunch. "You okay big fella?" the Doctor asked without even looking at the chieftain, being too busy focussing on his screwdriver.

"I am fine," Barkul replied proudly, rising to stand next to the Doctor. "But what manner of magic could do something like this?" He swept his arm around, gesturing to the entirety of their surroundings.

The Doctor slapped his sonic between his palms. "Not magic, technology," he clarified. "And technology I've seen before. I just can't remember where." He paused in his sonic bashing to chew his lip. "The green light is important. If it were a pillar of fire, we'd be dealing with the 456. Blue light, most likely Sycorax. But green?" He slapped his forehead a couple of times, as if it would stimulate his synapses into activity. "I have such a thick head! I can't see the obvious. Green green green! Which species uses green?"

His rant was cut short however, as the peace of the forest was torn asunder. The Doctor dove for cover as an entire tree went sailing through the air, trailing its own menagerie of parasitic vines, wood splinters and protesting birds. It bowled past the Arkans, clearing a swathe of vegetation as it rolled away. The culprit screeched loudly, swinging its scythe-like arms wildly to clear a path through the dense forest. The creature was a good three times the Doctor's height, probably weighed at least two tonnes, had a maw full of sharp gnashing teeth and didn't look all that happy.

Six legs pounded the forest floor, sending Arkans scattering in all directions. The Doctor leapt out of the way of a swinging arm that uprooted an entire copse of trees. He landed hard of his stomach, the sonic clattering out of his hand and under the belly of the beast. A screech echoed above him and he rolled on his back, only to see one of the train-car sized blade-arms striking down towards him.


	8. A Daring Duo

**Disclaimer: The words are mine, Doctor Who is not.**

**A/N: I have no excuses for my long hiatus... sorry w1nter, I couldn't wait for this chapter to be beta'd. I had to upload something.**

* * *

**CHAPTER SEVEN: A DARING DUO**

Sam covered his head as scrolls clattered down all around him, and only decided it was safe to come out when the floor had stopped rumbling. He popped his head out from underneath the table. "What d'ya think that was?" he asked Brittany. "Earthquake?"

"Arktaurus-quake?" she said absently as she brushed bits of ceiling plaster off her jacket. "We should probably go see what happened." She glanced over to see Sam had returned to rifling through Yuri's stuff. "Or not," she added, and followed suit.

Yuri's hut was about as different from Barkul's as you could get. It was dark and gloomy and filled with smoke emanating from whatever was bubbling away in the cooking pot. Thick fur rugs muffled the sound of their footsteps, while all sorts of windchimes and voodoo charms hung from the ceiling, clattering against each other. Shelves and low tables displayed all sorts of magic paraphernalia – or so Sam assumed – that Yuri would use in her position as the town's wise woman or shaman or whatever she was called here. Priestess?

Sam shrugged, and placed a scroll back on the shelf. When he had imagined visiting an alien planet, he had envisioned teleports, anti-gravity, spaceships and great shining metal cities, not a gloomy old stereotypical priestess' hut full of things you'd expect to find with a tribal shaman out of Earth's history. He picked up an animal skull, sniffing the candle inside. Immediately wrinkling his nose in distaste, he returned the skull to the shelf and moved along to examine a row of jars which appeared to contain various preserved insects.

"Found anything yet?" Brittany asked as she flicked absently through the pages of a mouldering leather-bound tome.

"Other than discovering that someone has a freeze-dried beetle fetish, no," Sam shot back, sliding a book off the shelf as he did so. A flash of white caught his eye and Sam glanced down to see a small scrap of paper flutter to the floor. _Must have been tucked underneath that book_. Replacing the book in its rightful place of the shelf, he then leant down to pick up the not-so-hidden-any-more paper. "Hey Brittany," he called out, de-crinkling the parchment, "I've found some kind of note."

The other time traveller slammed a tome on the finer points of magical rituals shut with a resounding boom, and looked over at Sam. "Well, what does it say numnuts?"

"Oh well..." He looked down at the piece of paper, his eyes widening. "Hang on, it's in English!"

Brittany sighed. "I suppose the Doctor neglected to mention that detail, did he? Yeah, TARDIS translation circuit. Apparently it gets inside your head and changes alien languages into something you'll understand. You didn't think the Arkans spoke English, did you?"

Sam could feel himself going red – _how stupid was he?_ – as he looked back down at the clue in his hands. He hadn't really thought about the fact that the Arkans would speak a different language to him. Too much television, he supposed. He threw that thought aside and focussed on the note.

"'Behind the dragonflies'," he read, with a frown.

Brittany stared at him blankly. "Is that it?" she said after a considerable silence. "Dragonflies?"

"Yup." Sam handed her the note. "That's it." He turned around to look at the shelves lining the wars. "Dragonflies, dragonflies ... there!" His hands closed around a jar of preserved dragonflies, and he carefully shifted it aside.

"I recognise this handwriting," Brittany pointed out as Sam retrieved a bundle of cloth from its hiding place. "We never did ask the Doctor where he went on that walk of his last night." She chuckled quietly to herself. "That man is just too curious for his own good."

Sam replaced the dragonfly-filled jar, and carefully unwrapped the bundle of cloth. As he peeled the last piece of fabric off, a golden-green glow filled the room. Sitting in the bundle of cloth in Sam's hands was a glass orb; a strange pulsing cloud of yellow-emerald light floated in the centre of the ball, and Brittany reached out a hand to touch it. Sam, however, pushed her hand away.

"Best not," he said, covering the orb in the layer of cloth once again. "Don't want to draw any unwanted attention."

"What?"

"You know, like a Palantír? Lord of the Rings?" Seeing her still blank look, Sam sighed. "Oh, I weep for the future of humanity. That's one of the classics." Shaking his head, he helped Brittany secure the orb in her backpack. "So I'm guessing that whatever that orb is, it doesn't belong on Arktaurus, right?"

"Right," she confirmed as they made their way to the door. "Yuri may not be as Arkan as she seems." They stepped outside, and immediately froze.

"Oh," Brittany said, pretty much summing it all up.

Sam frowned deeply. "I don't know about you, but that jungle wasn't there last time I looked."

* * *

The Doctor rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the creature's arm as it ploughed a furrow into the ground, sending clods of earth showering in all directions. The Time Lord quickly scrambled to his feet, bracing himself for another attack. Thankfully, the creature was quickly distracted by the fact that a spear had appeared in its chest, courtesy of one very gutsy Arkan. The creature screeched in pain as orange blood dripped down its leathery skin, and jerked its head forward in an attempt to swallow its assailant whole. It was met with failure however, and its head came up with a mouthful of dirt.

The Doctor took a deep breath and ran at the beast, charging straight between its front pair of legs. He ducked underneath an attack that was intended for one of the Arkan warriors, and only narrowly avoided a flailing limb that would have been the death of him had he not the good sense to dodge out of the way. Landing heavily with a faceful of dirt, he immediately began scrabbling around in the undergrowth for his sonic screwdriver. Above him, the creature was constantly shifting its weight, bringing its leathery belly closer to the ground. The Doctor didn't have time to worry about that right now, because he'd just spotted a glint of silvery metal down some kind of burrow. Without even a moment's thought, he plunged his left arm down the hole, fingers closing triumphantly around his prize. He quickly retrieved his arm, sonic and all, but did a surprised double take when he noticed that there also appeared to be a snake attached to his arm.

One of the creature's legs slammed down next to him, and the Doctor decided he didn't have the time to calmly identify the reptile and convince it to remove its coils from his wrist, so he used his right hand to tuck his sonic screwdriver away in his pocket before making a rapid run for the trees. No sense waiting around near that creature. He slowed once he believed he had reached a safe distance, and started to struggle with the stubborn snake attached to his arm. The animal simply refused to budge, and no amount of yanking was going to convince it otherwise.

Another hand, this one furred, appeared to join in with the Doctor's efforts, and their combined strength was enough to send the snake flying back into the undergrowth.

"Going somewhere, Doctor?" Barkul asked, arms now folded.

"Can't get rid of you that easily, can I?" the Doctor sighed. "Alright, come on then. Allons y."


End file.
